Maluka, Indonesia

Maluku (Moluccas) is far from anywhere; we flew about 3,000 km from Kuala Lumpur to Ambon. We stopped over in Surabaya, where we crawled through a Soviet built submarine next to a shopping mall. From Surabaya, we took our first Indonesian air carrier, Lion Air. Keep in mind that all Indonesian carriers are on blacklists and are not permitted to land in many Western countries. We were put at ease with the on-board "Do Not Remove" invocation card (prayer booklet), detailing travel prayers for five different religions. Our very experienced aircraft landed on 2 wings and many prayers, albeit a little hard, necessitating a change of aircraft for the uneventful leg into Ambon. Kota Ambon sits on a beautiful bay which seems to accentuate the ugliness of the city.

One of the golden rules of travel is to seek and heed local advice. Locals advised a sea crossing to the Banda Islands because the Merpati flights are sometimes cancelled or worse, crash. We booked passage on the MV Kelimutu which was pressed into service to relieve a backlog. We should have flown.

Our evening embarkation was like boarding an Indian third class train at the beginning of a holiday period. It was a pickpocketer's delight. We later met a tourist who lost her hand phone on a later, less frantic ship boarding. Naturally, the vessel was hopelessly overcrowded. The lifeboats filled up with people looking for space. No cabins or beds were available. We climbed over a guard rail and laid out our mats on a perch to watch a steady rain of garbage descending from above. A thunderstorm swelled the gutter next to us and drove us to the top deck where we laid our mats over a puddle of water for the night. After 4 hours, the vendors left and the ship slipped out of Ambon port and crept across the Banda Sea. A shivering cold night breeze was replaced by a sizzling hot sun in the morning, providing the inspiration to write "The Life of Pi", except it has already been written. During the final hours of the journey, the Banda Islands seemed so close and yet so far. Sheila has recovered from the crossing. The therapy helped but please don't mention the Kelimutu to her as it may trigger a severe delayed reaction. Note that we later flew back to Ambon from Bandaneira. The flight was most enjoyable.

The Banda Islands, a cluster of lush hilly volcanic islands, once provided the world's source of nutmeg. They are part of the spice islands that triggered the European search for wealth and subsequent colonization. There is plenty of history in the Banda Islands. For instance, the Dutch swapped Run Island for New Amsterdam with the British back in the 1660's. New Amsterdam is now know as Manhattan. Nowadays, it's hard to understand why the Europeans went to such lengths to control the trade of cloves and nutmeg, like killing off most of Banda's inhabitants for being uncooperative. However, nutmeg is more than about eggnog; it is used in soft drinks and is reputed to be an important element of the secret Coca-Cola formula.

These days, the Banda Islands are peaceful with a smattering of old Dutch forts. The main town of Bandaneira is a character colonial town, people are super-friendly and fresh tuna feature on the plate most meals. It's a sleepy place except when passenger ships arrive and on semi-annual kora-kora (war canoe race) days. We followed a kora-kora event by motor boat; nine teams of 30 paddlers plus bailers and helmsmen thrashed the inter-island course in short order. We saw two competing boats capsize and many other spectator boats nearly collide in the excitement of the race. What a hoot! The winning Banda Besar boat was chuffed with their victory and 6,000,000 Rupiah prize.

We also clambered up the classic cone shaped Gunung Api. The 666 metre high volcano hasn't exploded since 1988 but it is considered a devilish climb. It features a large crater, fumaroles and panoramic views of the islands and Banda Sea. The rocks around the summit were steam heated; all in all, it was a sweaty, steamy experience.

Whilst the Banda charm is on the islands, the magic lies beneath. Some say that snorkeling in the Bandas is the best in the world. We certainly have not seen better anywhere. At times it was mind bending, incredible, dazzling, amazing and sublime. The water was so clear, it was difficult to gauge depths, the deep blue along the drop-offs was a superb backdrop to passing sharks or schooling pelagic fish, the coral was varied and pristine in many places and the abundance of reef fish was staggering. Fish grow to full size in the Bandas. We were fortunate enough to see a school of 150+ tuna hovering around Ship Rock. We also stayed on the island of Ai, providing access to the Kenari and nutmeg plantations and also to the Ai reefs. On one hour snorkel, we clocked 30 reef shark sightings and a few of them were a little too close for comfort.

We returned to the island of Ambon and arranged for a day of diving with Blue Rose Divers. Ambon harbor is a highly regarded muck diving destination. We negotiated a very reasonable rate and the two of us were whisked to the dive sites in a 200hp speedboat. Vrooom! We flew across beautiful blue and turquoise colored ocean to brown, murky waters and dived near concrete walls and below moored fishing trawlers. We entered the twilight zone and found old tires, concrete pillars, shoes, plates, spoons and spatulas. Amongst the debris live the strangest creatures including a number of fish species that cannot swim. Astonishing. It was a day that we will never forget.

The nearby Lease Islands (more spices grown there too) beckoned. We took three bemos (shared transport) across Ambon island, then a cramped, shared exhaust filled speedboat to Haria and then an ancient bemo with exhaust fumes flooding through the floor boards to the central market town of Kota Saparua. The town includes a jumble of small shops, a few old colonial buildings, a Dutch fort built in the 1600's and intermittent electricity.

From Kota Sapurua, we caught a public boat to Ameth on the smaller island of Nusa Laut. Ameth has protected a fair section of reef from dynamite bombing and sections of it rival the Bandas but we'll spare the reader from further superlatives. Ameth is a very quiet island town. Many people draw water from the town well, while wealthier houses have their own well and pumping systems. The town electricity came on around 6:30pm and ran through the night (at least on 2 of our 3 nights). TV sets were tuned into "Kasih & Amara", an Indonesian soap opera, at 7:30pm. You don't need to understand the language to follow the plot. Our room had a fan and a new box spring bed (no mattress) to sleep on. Box springs are only uncomfortable when two people sleep on them and the springs press into your ribs. We realized early in our home stay that we should not over eat the rice, fish and vegies at each meal, because the small family ate what the guests didn't eat. We had fun, even when our Indonesian ran out. We even child minded. We do admit that time moved slowly through the punishing heat of the mid-afternoons.

Then it was over to Molana Island and three nights at what turned out to be our own private resort. The main difference between a home stay and a resort is that at a resort, you get a box spring and a mattress. The Molana Island bungalow was exceptional; rattan furniture in a spacious room with a bathroom that had a western flush toilet, sink and shower all of which worked. Not only was it comfortable, but the two reefs just off the beach (OK, they could have cleaned the beach) were excellent, though not up to Banda superlatives. Attentive staff (no English spoken) made it a dandy ending to our Maluku and Indonesian trip. We kept seeing sharks but the resort owner insisted that were none there - he didn't want to scare off already scarce guests from the white sand beach.

We flew from Surabaya back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We stayed with Tracy & Eric a couple of days before pressing onto Penang. Malaysia is a multi-cultural country and it is always a pleasure to mingle with Malaysians and sample their foods.

We caught a bus to Penang, Northern Malaysia and stayed in the heart of old Georgetown. Humidity is high in Malaysia, so it makes sense to take the funicular to the top of Penang Hill to rest your sweat glands for walking the descent. We were also fortunate to watch the celebration of the Sea Goddess, Mazu in Penang. There were three dragons on hand. As we had survived a few sea journeys of our own in Indonesia, we felt that we should also pay tribute.

Then it was onto Southern Thailand by surface. By the end of April, the Thai tourist infrastructure on smaller islands was closing down for the season. We had hoped to stay on Koh Kradan but the regular boat service and the guesthouses were winding down.

We then opted for Koh Lanta, a popular tourist destination that was quiet by the time we got there. Koh Lanta is about three hours from Phuket. We booked a min-van journey to Phuket town and got off at the airport junction for our return flight across the Pacific. We waited for transport and a kind Thai fellow picked us up and we rode to the terminal in the back of his pick-up truck. He dropped us right off at Departures. Thank-you smiley Thailand!

Our flight included an overnight stopover in Incheon (Seoul), Korea.

FOR THE RECORD

Indonesian equatorial crossings: 6

Most prevalent fast food chain in Indonesia: KFC

Number of dive operators used: 6

Number of dive operators that asked to see our certification cards: none

Indonesian Banana Index: 20 for 1USD (composite across 17,000 islands)